Umpiring baseball and softball games requires that umpires remain cool, calm and collected to make the right calls and deal with the players, coaches and fans. The task becomes even more difficult when the weather is hot and humid.
Umpiring the plate is extremely exhausting because of the protective gear underneath and the facemask on the face. The base umpire does not wear the protective gear but must on the move with the base runners. Professional umpires may only do one or two games a day, however, the recreational umpire who does tournaments may do six games in a day.
In hot and humid summer weather, there is a high potential for heat related illness. It is necessary for the umpires to stay cool. There are devices and methods to keep the umpires cool such as placing ice inside the chest protector, wet cold rags around the neck, ice cubes inside your hat, etc. All these devices and methods do not provide a long lasting cooling effect and can be messy.
Cooling the head offers a very effective method to prevent heat related illnesses. The cooling unit for the plate umpire is attached to the facemask. It is located behind the cage of the facemask where it is protected from any balls hitting the facemask. The unit for the base umpire is located underneath the brim of the cap where it is fairly unnoticeable and provides full visibility for the umpire. This unit is clipped on and can be easily detached and placed on another cap (each league has its own dress caps).
The attachable units include 5V, 0.14-0.15 A fans powered by AA or AAA batteries. The batteries may be single use or rechargeable. Any type of battery capable of supplying the required power to the fans will work. Tests show that the fans run continuously for 8 hours using four AA batteries and about 4 hours using four AAA batteries. Button batteries which supply the power will not last long. There is no need for a detached battery power pack with umbilical cord.
Presently, there are no devices on the market to provide this type of cooling for the umpires.